Randolph Scott made a ton of Westerns and you could almost always rely on them to be well-acted, intelligently written and a bit better than the genre. While this film certainly doesn't stand out among these many films, it certainly is good and worthwhile--particularly if you've become a Randolph Scott fan like me.
I liked how this film didn't deny that Scott was getting older. He plays a sheriff with a fast gun who realizes that he's made a lot of enemies by enforcing the law over the years--and his reflexes aren't exactly as good as they used to be. I loved how he took a nap by locking himself in one of his back jail cells--so that no one could sneak up on him! Scott deals with a couple angry jerks looking to take him down near the beginning of the film. I particularly loved the barber's chair scene--I wasn't too surprised by it but it was handled well. However, now he has something different to deal with--a greedy and amoral gambler who is determined to get rid of the sheriff once and for all. So, he brings in a hired gun who soon shoots Scott. Now this is the only real problem with the film. It expects us to believe that a gunman who hates Scott shoots him from about fifteen feet and the bullet somehow glances off Scott's head! Even I could have made this shot, and I'm no gunslinger! So you are expected to believe this and not question this plot line for the rest of the film to work. However, I was able to temporarily suspend disbelief and liked what happened next.
The acting and writing are fine and Scott is helped by having some excellent support in the film. It's a good old fashioned story about one man defying the odds--somewhat like HIGH NOON or RIO BRAVO. I especially liked how it all ended.
Memorable and worth seeing, though look for the Scott films directed by Budd Boetticher to see his best film or his final film that was directed by Sam Peckinpah.
I liked how this film didn't deny that Scott was getting older. He plays a sheriff with a fast gun who realizes that he's made a lot of enemies by enforcing the law over the years--and his reflexes aren't exactly as good as they used to be. I loved how he took a nap by locking himself in one of his back jail cells--so that no one could sneak up on him! Scott deals with a couple angry jerks looking to take him down near the beginning of the film. I particularly loved the barber's chair scene--I wasn't too surprised by it but it was handled well. However, now he has something different to deal with--a greedy and amoral gambler who is determined to get rid of the sheriff once and for all. So, he brings in a hired gun who soon shoots Scott. Now this is the only real problem with the film. It expects us to believe that a gunman who hates Scott shoots him from about fifteen feet and the bullet somehow glances off Scott's head! Even I could have made this shot, and I'm no gunslinger! So you are expected to believe this and not question this plot line for the rest of the film to work. However, I was able to temporarily suspend disbelief and liked what happened next.
The acting and writing are fine and Scott is helped by having some excellent support in the film. It's a good old fashioned story about one man defying the odds--somewhat like HIGH NOON or RIO BRAVO. I especially liked how it all ended.
Memorable and worth seeing, though look for the Scott films directed by Budd Boetticher to see his best film or his final film that was directed by Sam Peckinpah.